Sticky Suspect
by sunshine80
Summary: Abby is away from her lab and must use only her sense of hearing to help Tony process some evidence.


**A/N**: Originally written for round 3 of ncis_lfws on LJ. I was eliminated this round. I made some minor tweeks.  
**Prompt: **5 Senses: This must be a gen fic, where a member of the team is forced to use one of their five senses in a situation where they would normally be using all 5. The 5 senses are touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing. Some of you may ask why the character can't use their other senses, use your imagination. Are they impaired in someway? Have they been hurt? Word count may not exceed 1500.  
**Feedback:** Appreciated greatly.

There are days when things don't go as planned. There are days when people are not in the right places doing the things that they are stereotypically, and practically, supposed to be doing. There are days when the inanimate objects do not cooperate.

And then there was today.

Today was the day when everything seemed to be a little off. Not off enough to declare a catastrophe, but just enough to make working and accomplishing something inconvenient. Tony was actually in Abby's lab. Abby wasn't sure where the rest of the team was, all she knew was she was stuck in court today testifying as the expert forensic scientist on some case they closed several months ago. It was a relief to both when he when called her, and she answered, to walk him through processing some evidence.

She had been talking all day so far, but since the setting was different, she filtered her responses to only include a professional answer and not a tangential explanation. Thankfully, both for her and Tony, the court session was on recess and she was able to start explaining to him the how tos and what withs of getting some evidence processed.

"Ok, Abby. Slow down. I can't channel your presence when you talk that fast. Just take me through this slowly, like you can feel and taste and smell and see and hear though the phone."

"I don't have to pretend to hear you through the phone, Tony." She distracts herself with that statement, accepting the challenge to not completely be able to immerse herself in her work and talk Tony through it. She'll have to do her forensic work with only her hearing engaged since she was not located in her lab.

"Good point. And I'm also really hoping that you don't normally do much smelling either, it seems some of this stuff can be gross." Abby could picture him looking around at gunk with an upturned nose before he added to his statement. "But don't get me wrong, I am a fan of things that smell good. Like spaghetti and suntan lotion."

"Sometimes smelling the evidence helps." Abby states this matter-of-factly, though she knows that there are olfactory instances that have to be prepared for. "Tony, I'm sure you remember from your thorough study of 'Abby's Lab for Dummies' what the first thing you must do is?"

"Have someone bring you a box of evidence and a Caf-Pow?"

"Close, but sometimes the evidence can be sent to me electronically. And I do have my own stash of Caf-Pow for those occasions. Now, focus. The first thing, besides signing the custody tracking log because, of course you already know that and hopefully already did that, is to turn on Major Mass Spec since it takes some time to warm up." And before she continued with reciting the background and use of all the machines in the lab she caught herself because she knew she had limited time. "What did our wonderful field team uncover at the crime scene?"

"Ducky still has the body and I haven't gotten anything but the victim's fingerprints from that. We've already ID'd the body so those won't be much help. There are also tire tracks and a sample of some indeterminable substance that was found."

"Perfect, I love gunk! I'm always pleasantly surprised at what it turns out to be. What does it smell like?"

"You can't be serious."

"I am. If I were there, I would be smelling it. Does it smell organic or metallic or even like something familiar?"

Abby hears Tony set down the evidence jar ignoring her suggestion to smell it. But he doesn't exactly lie to her when he answers so she lets his response slide. "It smells peculiarly like gunk."

"Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"The mass spectrometer just told you it was ready. There is a green LED on now, right?"

"Yes."

"Ok, now what you have to do is take the gunk sample and process it with the mass spec. That will help us determine what we are dealing with and hopefully give us a lead. While that is being tested it would probably be best to start the scan for the tire tracks. I've got a program set up that will pretty much do all the searching for you on that. You should get results about the same time." She had a great handle on her processes so that even if she couldn't be there physically to press the buttons and maneuver through the room, she could give step-by-step instructions.

They filled the silences between the evidence processing with Tony asking Abby questions about the court case and Tony filling Abby in with what he knew about this case so far. But soon it was her turn to question him. "So, Tony, was it good?"

"Uh, Abby, I am not sure what you are talking about."

"That Caf-Pow you just finished. Was it good? Did you like the way it tasted?" Abby was getting feisty. Everyone knew they didn't have a Caf-Pow vendor at the court house.

"I thought you said you couldn't tap into the video. How'd you know?"

"You slurp and you opened the refrigerator I keep the spares in. Remember, I am a forensic scientist, it's like a sixth sense."

"So what does your sixth sense say when the gunk turns out to be a mixture of sucrose, cream, and traces of Red No. 40 and...chocolate? And the tire tracks are from a late 90's modified GMC conversion van?"

"Sounds like you are looking for your neighborhood ice cream truck driver."

"Sweet, thanks Abs."

"Literally. You're welcome. Go get him!"


End file.
